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A landmark was the debt-financed purchase of juice maker Nidan Soki by UK-based PE company Lion Capital in August 2007 for $500 million, says an article by consultants Oxford Analytica, summarised on Forbes.com. But PE still accounts for only 1% of Russia’s dynamic mergers and acquisitions business. And buyouts, which represent the bulk of PE business in Europe, are still negligible in Russia. According to the Russian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (RVCA), venture funding has accounted for some 12% of PE investments, which is relatively high by European standards. And expansion financing has accounted for 75% of the total. Foreign players accounted for around three-quarters of total funds in 2006. US-based TPG Capital, a major global PE group, opened offices in Moscow last year. An infrastructure fund was launched recently by Australian group Macquarie, together with Renaissance Capital, a leading Russian investment bank. After the 1998 financial and economic crisis, PE firms focused on the telecoms, energy and consumer sectors. Recently, there has been an increased emphasis on technology, media, real estate and financial services.